Cuba Could Win

The power house teams are expected to dominate the World Baseball Classic. With stars on teams such as USA, Japan, and the Dominican Republic, there is almost no question those teams will succeed.

Ever hear of an upset? Cuba is capable of it. They don't have the big name players like other teams, however Cuba finished second in the 2006 WBC and won the silver medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Their players aren't popular in the rest of the world, but in Cuba is a different story. Their key players are outfielder Frederich Cepeda, pitcher Pedro Lazo, and infielder Yuliesky Gourriel.

In their first game of international play, Cuba dominated South Africa, 8-1. Cepeda hit 2 homeruns.

Cuba isn't known to have a bad team. Cuba won Gold Medals in the 1992, 1996, and 2004 Olympics. They won 14/17 Gold Medals in the Central America and Caribbean games. They also won 25 World Cup Gold Medals. History is on their side.

Cuba's toughest opponent may be Japan if both advance to the second round. However, if they get past them, they can get past anybody.

The Netherlands upset the Dominican Republic team on Saturday. The DR's main offensive threats in their stacked offense lost the two best players in the game, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez. The reason the DR will not win the tournament because of their pitching. Their pitching staff is anchored by the young Edison Volquez. They are talented, but very young.

The USA also has a decent team, but their pitching staff isn't as good as it could be. They have aces Jake Peavy and Roy Oswalt, but their bullpen is a little questionable. Pitchers also have pitching limits in the first few rounds, so their starters will not go as deep into a game they normally would.

IRONPIGPEN explains why Japan will win. Phoul Ballz explains why Team USA will win. Check out their counterpoints!